Automatic safety switch-lock.



F. G. ANDERSON. AUTOMATIC SAFETY SWITCH LOOK.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 18. 1913.

24 I 4/ W L tnesses: 2'6 i3 134 f vendor g s; w M

FRANK C. ANDERSON, OF GINCINNATIQOHIO, ASSIGNOR IO THEAMERICAN' VALVE &

METER COMPANY, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

AUTOMATIC SAFETY SWITCH.-LOCK.

Specification of Letters Iatent. Patented N 24 1914 Application filedOctober 18, 1913. Serial No. 796,061.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANK. C. ANDERSON, acitizen of the United States, residing at Cincinnati, in the county ofHamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in, Automatic Safety Switch-Locks, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates to means to be used in connection with a switchstand for automatically locking the switch points of a rail wayindependently of the swltch stand.

' The objects of my invention are to provide simple, economical,convenient and effective means of the above character in connection witha switch stand of the weighted ground lever automatic type, and toprevent the locking of said switch stand unless the switch is properlyclosed, as well as to provide convenient means to unlock the switchpoints to open the switch; to provide such a device which will alwayshold the switch points in locked position even though the switch standshould become disconnected, damaged or destroyed by accident undertrailic; to provide means in connection with certain forms of switchstands to insure the proper closing of the switch points against thestock rails before the switch can be locked in closed position; and toprovide a device of the above character which can be readily applied Myinvention consists in the parts and in the construction and arrangementof parts as will hereinafter be more fully described and claimed.

In the drawing: Figure 1 is a general perspective view of a switch andswitch stand with which my invention is associated; Fig. 2 is asectional plan view of the locking device constructed accordingto myinvention,

.45 i is a side elevation of the same, and also the section being on theline w s of Fig. at; Fig. 3 is a vertical cross section on a linecorresponding to the line l y of Fig. 2, the dog or bolt being shown inelevation; Fig. 41

is suitably mounted upon head blocks or ties 2 and connected to theswitch points 3 by a connecting rod 4i. The operating lever 5 of theswitchstand is held down by the keeper 6 of the latch in the usualmanner when the switch is in closed position. This keeper has a treadle6 which is engaged by the foot of the operator, after the latch has beenunlocked, to draw the keeper back and release the operating lever.

My automatic safety switch lock which is used in connection with theabove described mechanism is mounted in a casing 7 and a housing 8secured, respectively, to the upper and lower sides of a plate 9, whichis rigidly mounted upon one of the head blocks 2. The housing 8 has atransverse slot 10'in whichslides the interlocking bar 11. Thisinterlocking bar 11 is suitably connected to the switch point rail-3 soas to move with said point rail when the switch is thrown. This housing8 is also provided with a vertical passage 12 into which extends thelower end 01 the dog or bolt 13. The passage 12 has a keyway l2 and thedog or bolt 13 has a lug 13 entering this keyway to prevent the bolti'rom turning. The interlocking bar 11 is provided with a recess 14 inits upper edge which is adapted to receive the lower end of this bolt13. The main part of the bolt 13 is cylindrical but the recess in theinterlocking bar has straight parallel sides, and to fit with the properdegree of ac curacy in this straight sided recess, the terminal part ofthe bolt has flattened sides 15. The width between these flattened sidesof the dog or bolt is such with relation to the width of the recess 14:that the bolt will on ter the recess easily when the point rail isbrought up close enough to the stock rail to be perfectly safe againstthe entrance of a flange betwcen the point rail and thestock rail, butis such that if the point rail is held dangerously far away from thestock rail, for any reason whatever, this dog will not descend into therecess 14;. s

The plate 9 has an opening 16 alined with the passage 12 in the housing8, for the bolt 13 to extend through. This passage also has acontinuation 16 of the keyway 12. Above the plate 9, the dog has theflange 17 and the lug 13 terminates at this flange.

The upper part of the bolt extends up and is guided in the upper part ofthe casing 7 and is surrounded by a helical spring 18 compressed betweensaid flange 17 of the bolt and the under side of the upper part of saidcasing 7. Thus the bolt is normally held down by this spring and willautomatically enter the recess 1% in the interlocking bar 11 as soon asthe point rail is brought to safe position as above described.

To manually raise the bolt and withdraw it from the recess in theinterlocking bar, a bracket 19 is fixed on a reduced upper part of thebolt above the top of the housing 7 by means or a nut 20. This bracketextends back and down along the side of the casing which has a flattenedside 19 to guide this bracket, and the bracket is provided on its lowerpart with a backwardly opening pocket 21 having a top 22 and a bottom23. The casing 7 has a rearwardly extended base 2 1 which carries apedestal 25 within which is pivoted, to swing in a vertical plane, alever 26, extending forward into the pocket 21 and having convex lugs 27and 2S to engage with the inner sides of the top 22 and bottom 23,respectively, of said pocket. 1V here it extends rearwardly from thepedestal 25, the lever 26 has a treadle 29 with which the foot of theoperator may be engaged, so that by depressing this treadle and the rearend of the lever 26 the dog 13 may be raised, through the agency of thebracket 19, with the convex lug 27 of the lever 26 hearing up againstthe top 22 of the pocket 21 in said bracket 19.

As is best seen in Fig. 1, the lower side of the treadle 29 has a convexflange 30 that bears against the top of the treadle 6 on the keeper 6 ofthe latch. The purpose of this arrangement is to cause the lockingdevice to hold the latch keeper 6 out so that the bow or shackle of thepadlock cannot be inserted into the opening in the ear 31 of the latchas long as the switch point 3 is not properly drawn up to the stock railof the track in the manner before described. This will be efiectedthroughthe agency of the operative connection from the inter locking bar11 to the latch made up of the above described bolt 13, bracket 19 andlever 26; and when acting in this capacity, the lower end of the bolt 13will be engaging with the upper edge of the interlocking bar 11 outsidethe recess 1 1 therein, and the bottom of the pocket 21 on the bracket19 will be bearing up against the lower convex lug 23 on said lever 26while the lever 26 will be hearing down on the top of the treadle 6 withthe convex flange 30 of the treadle 29. As soon as the switch point 3has been properly brought up to the stock rail the dog or bolt 13 willautomatically enter the recess 1 1 in the interlocking bar 11 under thepressure of the spring 18, and the rear end of the lever 26 with itstreadle 29 will rise, permitting the treadle 6 of the keeper 6 to riseand said keeper to swing back into the latch over the operating lever 5of the switch stand, whereupon the bow of the padlock may be inserted inthe opening in the ear 31 on the latch and the switch can thus belocked.

In order to prevent the accumulation of obstructing substances, such asdirt or ice, under the lower end of the bracket 19, the base 2-1 of thecasing 7 has an opening 32 and the plate 9 is providedwith an opening 33adapted to register with the opening 32 when the parts are assembled,while the head block 2 is provided with a proper recess 31 leading fromthe openings 32 and 33 down and out through the side of the head block,so that the obstructing matter. can thus fall out of the way. Thehousing 8 below the plate 9 and the casing 7 thereabove are both securedto said plate by means of bolts 35 passing through ears 36 and 37 on thesides of said casing and housing, respectively, and the casing 7 isfurther secured to the plate 9 by means of tap screws 38 passing downthrough the base 24 of said casing into the plate 9.

By providing the simple dog or bolt 13 with its flattened end part tocoact with the simple straight sided recess in the interlocking bar, 1am enabled to make the housing 8 of very moderate dimensions and toconfine it entirely outside the head block 2 and thereby avoid gainingor recessing this head block to apply the device. This housing 3, infact, when assembled on the plate 9 along with the other parts, acts asa gage for the proper placing of the device on the head block, since theinner side of this housing 8 is adapted to engage against the side ofthe head block as is best seen in Fig. 4. Where it is necessary torecess or gain the head block in applying such devices, not only theextra labor of thus cutting away the material of thehead block isinvolved but considerable care is necessary to insure the proper placingof the device on the head block.

The transverse slot 10 in the housing 8 may be cored, and then thepassage 12 in the housing and the opening 16 in the plate may be boredwhile the housing is bolted to the plate, so that they thus form asmooth and continuous passage and guideway for the lower cylindricalpart of the bolt 13. The keyways 12 and 16 in the housing and plate,respectively, may be formed continuous in the two parts by boring asmall hole with its center where the circumference of the larger bore isto be, and then afterward making this larger bore to form the opening 16and passage 12 as above noted, thus leaving the keyway of substantiallysemi-circular cross section. To correspond with this keyway, the lug 13is also made of substantially se1ni-circular cross section, being castintegral with the dog or eration on this part of the bolt. In formingthe passage 12 in the housing, the bore is made to stop at such a pointthat its bottom will be even with or slightly below the bottom of therecess 14in the interlocking barwhen that bar is inserted into thetransverse slot 10. The lower part of this bore will then have a shapeas indicated in Fi 5, and will consist only ofremainingsegmental sidespaces where it enters the rectangular transverse slot 10, so that whenthe straight sided recess 14: in the interlocking bar registers withthese segmental side spaces there is formed a cavity with straightparallel sides and arc-shaped ends to re ceive the terminal part; of thebolt, which terminal part is of cross sectioncorresponding in shape tothis cavity and of such dimension that it will slide into the cavityeasily when the recess 14 registers with the lower part of the bore 19.as above noted.

Just above the flange 17 on the bolt 13,

there is a reduced part or neck 39, whereby this part of the bolt ismade the weakest, so that, in case of an accident carrying away thecasing 7 and the other parts above the plate 9, the bolt 13 will breakat this weakestpart in the neck 89, leaving the lower part of the boltsupported by its flange 17 parts above the plate 9. The plate 9 being"rigidly secured to the head block will maintain its position, with thehousing 8 and the lower part of the dog or bolt 13 therein, under themost severe conditions.

An important advantage attained by the use of this type of lockingmechanism is the prevention of the locking of the switch with anobstruction between the switch point and stock rail which would be smallenough to permit the negligent operator to spring the parts suiiicientlyto bring the operating lever 5 down into the latch and lock it, althoughthis obstruction would be large enough to hold the switch point away andcause derailment. Likewise this look prevents the looking of the switchstand with the switch point left away from the stock rail due to wear ordisconnection of the operative connection between the switch points andthe switch stand mechanism. In either contingency, as the interlockingbar 11 is moved by the switch points, it will not move up far the recess14: unless these switch points ac-.

tually move up to safe position against the stock rails. The deviceherein illustrated provides for this inexpensively, due to thesimplicity and comparative smallness of the parts used, thereby savingin labor of con: struction as well'as material; and is also more easilyinstalled, as has been above pointed out.

It will be understood that the invention is capable of some modificationfrom the construction specifically illustrated and described hereinwithout departure from the scope and spirit of the invention,.which isdefined by the following claims. a

I claim- 1. An automatic safety switch-lock comprising an interlockingbar having a recess in the upper edge with straight parallel sides and adog or bolt having a terminal part,

with straight parallel sides, to enter the recess in the interlockingbar.

2.,An automatic safety switch-lock com prising an interlocking bar, ahousing through whichthe bar slides, said bar having a recess and saidhousing having a passage with which the recess is adapted to register,and a dog or bolt in said passage and engaging with its terminal part insaid recess. V

3. An automatic safety switch-lock comprising an interlocking bar havinga recess with straight parallel sides, a housing through which theinterlocking bar slides, said housing having a cylindrical bore withwhich said recess is adapted to register, and a cylindrical dog or boltextending through said here andhaving a terminal part with straightparallel sides to enter said recess ins-aid bar. 1

4. An automatic safety switch-lock comprising an interlockingbar havinga recess, a housing through which said bar slides, said housing having apassage with which the recess is adapted to register, a bolt eX- tendingthrough said passage with its terminal part engaging in said recess, anda flange on said bolt integral therewith and engaging to limit theextension of said bolt through said passage and into said recess, saidbolt having a weakened part above said flange whereby the bolt may bebroken and leave the part of the bolt with the flange holding it inposition projecting into the recess in the interlocking bar.

5. An automatic safety switch-lock comprising an interlocking bar, abolt to coact with the bar, means for manipulating the bolt, and ahousing having a rectangular transverse slot in which the interlockingbar slides, said interlocking bar having a recess with straight parallelsides, and said housing having a cylindrical bore, the lower end ofwhich enters the rectangular transverse slot in the housing and therebyconsists only of remaining segmental side spaces, and the straight sidedrecess in the interlocking bar registering with these segmental sidespaces and forming a cavity with straight parallel sides and arc-shapedends, and said bolt having its terminal part of cross sectioncorresponding in shape to said shape of the cavity.

6. An automatic safety switch-lock comprising an interlocking bar, abolt having a lower cylindrical part, a lug projecting radially on saidcylindrical part, means for manipulating the bolt, and a housing havinga rectangular transverse slot in which the interlocking bar slides, saidinterlocking bar having a recess with straight parallel sides and saidhousing having a cylindrical bore the lower end of which enters therectangular transverse slot in the housing and thereby consists only ofremaining segmental side spaces, and the straight sided recess in theinterlocking bar registering with these segmental side spaces andforming a cavity with straight parallel sides and arc-shaped ends, saidbolt having its terminal part of cross section corresponding in shape tosaid shape of the cavity, and the bore in the housing above saidtransverse slot-having a longitudinal keyway receiving the lug of thebolt to maintain the bolt in position such that its terminal part enterssaid cavity.

7. An automatic safety switch-lock comprising an interlocking bar, abolt having a lower cylindrical part, a lug projecting radially on saidcylindrical part, means for manipulating the bolt, and a housing havinga rectangular transverse slot in which the interlocking bar slides,saidinterlocking bar having a recess with straight parallel sides andsaid housing having a cylindrical bore.

the lower endof which enters the rectangular transverse slot in thehousing and thereby consists only of remaining segmental side spaces,andthe straight sided recessin the interlocking bar registering withthese segmental side spaces and forming a cavity with straight parallelsides and arc-shaped ends, said bolt havingits terminal part of crosssection corresponding in shape to said shape of the cavity, and the.bore in the housing above said transverse slot having a longitudinalkeyway receiving the lug of the bolt to maintain the bolt in positionsuch that its terminal part enters said cavity, a plate above andsecured to and supporting said housing, said plate having an openingregistering with the bore in the housing, and having a keywayregistering with the keyway of the bore in the housing.

8. An automatic safety switch-lock com prising an interlocking bar, ahousing through which the bar slides, said bar having a recess withstraight parallel sides and having a cylindrical passage with which therecess is adapted to register, a dog or bolt having a cylindrical partin said cylindrical passage, and having a straight sided terminal partto enter said recess in the interlocking bar, and a radially extendedlug on said cylindrical part of the bolt, said cylindrical bore having alongitudinal keyway receiving said lug.

FRANK C. ANDERSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

